Employment Sites
Strong economic growth in the Northwest is dependent on the
region being able to offer attractive employment sites and
development land. The NWDA has a property portfolio which we
promote to businesses interested in building a base in the
Northwest. We also support strategic regional sites - such as
science parks and business parks - which help foster businesses in
the region’s key sectors.
Property Portfolio
The Agency has a portfolio of project assets and development
land.
The properties available include: Harbord Street Industrial
Estate in Liverpool, Birchwood Science Park in Warrington and
Lillyhall East Industrial Estate in Workington. For a full list of
properties available, see the Premises Availability List.
Development opportunities are available at a number of sites
across the region, including: Wavertree Technology Park in
Liverpool, Lillyhall Business Park in Workington, Bickershaw
Colliery in Wigan and Stonebridge Business Park in Gillmoss. For a
full list of development opportunities, see the Development Land
Availability.
Property Joint Venture
The NWDA is in a property joint venture with Ashtenne Industrial
Fund. The public/private partnership oversees a portfolio of
commercial property which was previously directly owned by the
NWDA. This portfolio is primarily located in Merseyside and West
Cumbria and includes projects such as Liverpool Innovation
Park.
The portfolio - which is managed by Ashtenne Asset Management -
trades as Space Northwest and provides property and development
opportunities for companies to create employment within the
region.
Strategic Regional Sites
Working with public and private sector partners, the NWDA is
creating property infrastructure which entices innovative
knowledge-driven companies and entrepreneurs - including cluster
developments, business incubation and university spin-outs - to
locate their business in the region.
The region’s strategic regional sites are those employment sites
which are critical to the delivery of the Regional Economic
Strategy. The Agency provides different forms of assistance to the
various sites. We offer support through the planning system and
funding for certain sites, financing incubator units and clearing
contaminated land.
In 2009, working with GONW and 4NW, the NWDA completed a review
of our strategic regional sites, which included consultation with
local authorities and other partners. The purpose of the review was
to:
- Reflect the progress made on the existing sites
- Identify a new list of regionally significant sites which meet
the criteria set out in Chapter 6 of the
Regional Spatial Strategy
- Develop a list of sites which meet the requirements of the
North West Operational Programme for ERDF
Priority 3 Action Area 2 purposes
In July 2009, the Board approved the designation of 35 strategic
regional sites. The new list includes 20 retained sites from the
previous list and 15 new sites; five sites from the previous list
have been deleted. A further site, Sportcity, was added in October
2009.
Consultation documents
View the schedule of the
consultation responses received in relation to
the proposed retentions, deletions and additions.
During the consultation process, the NWDA also received requests
for the designation
of a further 30 sites from a range of partners. We
have not endorsed any of these bids at this stage. We will be
carrying out further research to clarify if there is a need for any
additional sites.
The 36 strategic regional sites designated by the Agency
are:
Greater Manchester
- Ashton Moss, Tameside
- Barton (Port Salford)
- Central Bolton
- Central Park, Manchester
- Kingsway, Rochdale
- Manchester Piccadilly Basin/ Oxford Road Area
- Salford Quays/ Irwell Corridor Area
- Sportcity, Manchester
- Wigan South Central Area
Merseyside
- Birkenhead Docks, Wirral
- Daresbury, Runcorn
- Ditton, Widnes
- Dunningsbridge, Sefton (Port of Liverpool Economic
Corridor)
- Estuary, Liverpool
- Liverpool North Docks
- Liverpool Pall Mall, Liverpool City Centre
- Liverpool Science Park (Edge Lane)
- Liverpool University Edge (Liverpool Knowledge Quarter)
- Parkside, St Helens
- Wirral International Business Park, Bromborough
Lancashire
- Bailrigg, Lancaster
- Central Preston
- Cuerden, South Ribble
- Freckleton Street Area, Blackburn
- ROF Chorley
- Salmesbury, Lancs
- Whitebirk, near Blackburn
Cumbria
- Carlisle City Centre
- Kingmoor, Carlisle
- Lillyhall Business Park, near Workington
- Westlakes Science Park, West Cumbria
Cheshire
- Alderley Park, Macclesfield
- Basford, Crewe
- Central Chester
- Central Warrington
- Omega, Warrington
Deletions from previous list
- Chester Business Park
- Carrington, Trafford
- Davenport Green, Trafford
- Kings Business Park, Knowsley
- Twelve Quays, Birkenhead